Putting Life in Perspective

Because the Book of Ecclesiastes follows a theme of wisdom and insight. Scripture tells us that God granted Solomon his heart’s desire and gave him great insight and a breadth of understanding. Because we know King Solomon to be the wisest mortal man on Earth. was asking God for wisdom. Solomon. the son of King David. we meet King Solomon. in effect. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than any other man (I Kings 4: 29-31) .
. is known throughout the Word of God for his wisdom. the Lord asked him what he wanted most and Solomon requested that he be given a discerning heart to govern and distinguish between right and wrong (I Kings 3: 9). Let us be inspired by the words of Solomon. Solomon. King Solomon is widely believed to be the author of this Book of the Bible as well.Inspiring Bible Characters
Solomon
As we continue our study of inspiring bible characters. The Bible tells us that Solomon is the author of the Book of Proverbs. it makes sense for us to examine his life and words to gain insight for ourselves. In fact.

King Solomon—the Wisest Man on Earth…
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therefore. but it would be pointless. – Question for Thought: What does Solomon mean by “everything is meaningless. You can chase wind.Solomon puts life in perspective…
• Ecclesiastes 1: 1-4. 2: 12-14
– King Solomon is saying that when you really think about it that everything is meaningless—a chasing after the wind.
. it seems that one could never really take hold of it. a chasing after the wind?” When I think of chasing wind. – Generations come and generations go… Solomon seems to be saying that our stay on Earth is temporary. Solomon seems to be saying that much of life is pointless because we’re going to die. everything in the world is really meaningless.

Folly (Foolish Behavior). Pleasure. and various Personal Achievements. Knowledge. Laughter. Slaves. 2: 1-11 – Solomon tries diligently to find something that is meaningful. Through scripture we see that he tries the following things to see if he can find true meaning in them: Wisdom. Silver and Gold (Wealth). – Life Lesson: We tend to focus our lives on many of the things that King Solomon says are meaningless. Wine. Why do we focus so much of our lives chasing things that have no real worth or value?
. – Even after trying all of the above things.Solomon searches for the true meaning of life…
• Ecclesiastes 1: 16-18. Great Projects (Career). Harem (Sexual Pleasure). Flocks. Solomon says that they all are really meaningless…a chasing after the wind.

– What season is it in your life? You can be sure that whatever the season is. – Sometimes we get consumed with emotion when going through difficulty. There will be a time in our life for everything. He seems to be saying that we should not be surprised when we encounter different “times” in our lives.
. that another season is coming. It is to be expected that our lives will have different “seasons”.A Time for Everything
• Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
– Solomon acknowledges that life goes through various phases. good or bad. we should take comfort in knowing that change is constant in our lives and that things won’t stay difficult forever.

What season is it in your life? Remember that seasons change…
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– Solomon is telling us to enjoy life. 9-10. that the best that we can do while we are here is to enjoy the life we have.Enjoy Life
• Ecclesiastes 9: 7.
. Life is temporary. We should realize that though the things of this life are meaningless. – Many of us spend too much time worrying. Why worry about something that isn’t going to last? Many of us will look back and regret that we spent so much of our time in despair instead of enjoying what we can of our experience on Earth.

career. Solomon finds the only thing that really matters… • Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14
.Solomon finds the true meaning of life…
• In his search for true meaning in life. wisdom. He tried pleasure. At the end of Ecclesiastes. wine. and personal achievements—and none of it really meant anything. Because we die. Solomon realized the reality of what he was facing—death. We won’t be able to enjoy it. foolishness. because we’ll be dead. sex. none of what we do here on Earth will provide lasting meaning for us. Solomon tried it all. wealth.

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– Why worry about things that in the end really won’t matter? – Why focus so much energy and time on that which is meaningless? – Why chase things that you can have only temporarily? – Enjoy your life experience here on Earth.Solomon Inspires Us
• King Solomon’s assertions in Ecclesiastes should inspire us to put our lives in perspective. – Be sure to focus on the most important thing– Fear God and keep his commandments. for this is the WHOLE DUTY of man.